♪ >> paul ryan, truth or dare. >> the president came to janesville after the blunt shut down or before the plant shut down. >> that's what he said in 2008. >> well, as it turns out, that plant didn't last another year. >> what they're trying to suggest is i said that barack obama was responsible for our plant shut down in janesville, that's not what i was saying. read the speech. >> read the next paragraph. we saw the speech. what's your point? >> so my point -- here's my point. that's my point. the point i was making about gm. here's the point, george. >> the point is, mr. ryan, questions deserve straight answers. >> at some point the truth should matter. >> people cannot escape the facts. they can't escape the facts at all. ♪ come on let's vogue ♪ come on let's vogue

♪ let your body go with the flow ♪ >> we begin as democrats prepare to make their case for president obama's re-election, with their convention set to be gaveled to order in just one hour. first lady michele obama caps the opening night with a speech that will talk about the president's connection with and support for the middle class. a theme that the president himself anticipated earlier today at a rally in norfolk, virginia, where he drew a sharp contrast with his republican rival, mitt romney. >> i mean, think about it. a plan that says we're going to make middle-class families pay for another budget-busting, $250,000 tax cut, for people making $3 million a year or more, that's not really persuasive to most people. >> while the president was delivering that line, mitt

romney's been up in vermont this afternoon, working on his powers of persuasion, fine tuning his debate preparations and leaving hatchet man paul ryan to do the dirty work on the campaign trail as today in battleground ohio. >> the biggest threat to medicare is obama care and one of the biggest threats to job creation is obama care. so for the sake of medicare, and for the sake of jobs, we are going to repeal and replace obama care. >> what a line. i wonder why he doesn't use that more often. of course. that was mr. ryan's well rehearsed stump speech. like a p 90 x for the truth where he bends and stretches his way around the facts, he gets even more of a workout during interviews like trying to walk back that line blaming the president for the jamesville auto plant that closed under president bush. >> in my opinion, it seemed like

you were unmistakebly trying to link the president's promise with the closing of that plant, which you know obviously closed before he became president. >> the promise was -- that he was going to open the plant. he said if we pass the stimulus unemployment would never get above 8%. >> yes. when you bend one truth to its breaking point, just move right along to the next set of flexible facts. what about their plan to pay for a gigantic tax break for the wealthy by closing loopholes? >> tax policy and chick growth. >> others have looked at your plan to close loopholes and you can't cut taxes in the way you say and raise as much money by going after loopholes. they've looked at every single one and you don't get there. >> they did not actually analyze the romney plan. and what other groups have shown is you can do this. >> oh, the no, they didn't, yes, you can defense, very clever. but then came the vexing question about why neither mr.

romney nor mr. ryan made any mention of afghanistan in their convention speeches. >> how can you not mention that war? >> well, i think you have to remember, the day before his speech, mitt romney went to the american legion and gave a lengthy speech on the topic. >> a lengthy speech on the topic? really? because unlike most americans, we actually watched mr. romney's american legion speech last wednesday afternoon and he did, indeed, talk about afghanistan, and here's what he actually said. >> the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction continues to be very real and, of course, we're still at war in afghanistan. >> that is it. that was his sole mention of afghanistan in his american legion speech. as usual, short on specifics, on afghanistan, just plain short. let's get right to it with msnbc's lawrence o'donnell, host

of "the last word" who joins us now from the convention in charlotte. lawrence, it's great to have you again. has paul ryan in your experience always been a compulsive liar or have we only just started to notice his loose grip on the truth? >> well, everyone who's been watching his budget work over the last few years who knows how budgets work have known that they've all been incomplete. he's always left out what he's really going to do with the tax code. which is what are they going to do with deductions, loopholes, what he used to call, martin, tax shelters. that's what he used to call them. up until last week when he stopped referring to tax shelters on order of the romney campaign, since the head of that ticket is the king of exploiting tax shelters for his own personal wealth. so he's always been leading up massive things and people like paul krugman and "the new york times," know bell winning prize economist has always been saying that ryan is not a serious man

on budget matters, but in republican world, he has been advanced as their serious man on budget matters. what we're now seeing especially with these great interviews, matt lauer's done, george stephanopoulos, but i think what matt did, really opened up this candida candidacy's weaknesses in a way i couldn't have predicted last week, which is the "today" show actually has swing voters watching, you know. that's really where they're going. they don't come to this programming. they don't want a lot of political programming. that's where paul ryan has to be ready and he wasn't ready and that campaign wasn't ready. for some very basic questions that you have to see coming, since the reaction to ryan's speech the night he gave it. >> lawrence, here's the problem with the lies they keep telling. if i arrived in this country last week, without any prior knowledge of this nation's recent economic history, here's what i'd learn from the republican ticket. that the president abandoned the auto industry, that romney and ryan would never cut medicare,

that the president is solely personally responsible for the high deficit and the nation's credit downgrade and that romney and ryan are going to save the safety net. >> yeah. and it becomes the press's obviousligation to deal with th issues the way the republicans have framed them. to actually show the trickery that's going on in that framing and that's what we saw. that's what the matt lauer -- by the way, the think that's striking about matt's interview is, these were all straight ahead predictable questions. that's how easy it is to rip away the framing that paul ryan is using for his speech. you know, as long as he was delivering that speech in the sealed environment of the republican world last week, those lines were very, very effective. but they're not -- this week not able to survive press scrutiny in areas where you think they'd have a practiced response ready to go. >> lawrence, it felt as though they were speaking from the lan

net uranous. they were making this stuff up and as you say the moment anybody asks a single reasonable question, well, they just run for the hills. >> well, they're not the first political candidates to make things up. >> of course not. >> but they definitely have made up more than most. i mean most candidacies tend to play with the truth around the edges. these -- this ticket is playing with the truth at the core, at the very basics of what they're talking about, and martin, i have to applaud you for going after the afghanistan issue. i sitting here just now learned what mitt romney actually said in that speech last week about afghanistan. i hadn't realized it was really just the one word in one sentence. >> it was actually the country and the mentioning of that nation in south asia that constituted what paul ryan said was a very lengthy speech. but let's keep going on this detail. because on a personal level, mr. ryan keeps talking about jamesville, wisconsin. but you know, lawrence, he's

been in washington, d.c., since he was 22. for the last 20 years, he's been part and parcel of the washington political elite, not the ordinary folks of jamesville. and again, does he somehow assume that we have no access to a properly functioning memory? >> well, martin, here's the really important question for paul ryan that he hasn't gotten yet on the jamesville auto plant. the plant employed your friends from high school. the plant employed voters of yours. constituents of yours. what did you do, paul ryan, to save that plant? you saw it when they put up the notice saying they were going to close it down. it was a republican president in office when that happened. what did you do with that republican president? what did you do with your republican leadership? what bill did you write? what did you try to push? >> lawrence, we -- >> to save that plant. >> we know what mitt romney did. he did nothing. he did zero. >> but it's really, martin, all

the more pointed, this is a real congressman, representing his district actively, when he sees that plant heading toward closure, a real congressman goes to work in all sorts of ways that washington has to try to do something to intervene. he did absolutely nothing. while in office to intervene. mitt romney wasn't in office, he had no responsibility that he could possibly point to other than writing a wall street journal op-ed piece saying let it die, let all these plants die, but paul ryan who wants to exploit it now, exploit that image of friends of his from high school losing their jobs, which is tragic and is real, what did he personally do for them? he had a chance. he was in government at the time. >> well, i want to draw our conversation to a close, lawrence, by mentioning that mitt romney, gave his convention speech but it appears he got absolutely no pounce whatsoever, according to gallup, he actually

lost a point after the convention. you're telling me that the we built in debt clock didn't work for these guys. >> well, for one thing you have to say this is a great testament to the intelligence of the swing voter. they listen to that and they realize there was nothing in it. that is a very important measure of just how smart the swing voters are at this stage of the game. they are waiting to hear things to actually make their decision one way or another and what they're saying clearly is we absolutely didn't hear anything from tampa. >> lawrence o'donnell, thank you so much, lawrence. >> thanks, martin. >> lawrence will be bringing us much more from charlotte leading up to the president's speech on thursday. and much more from charlotte ahead. first, walker, texas ranger, meets apocalypse now. stay with us. >> if we look to history, our great country and freedom are under attack. we're at a tipping point and quite possibly our country as we know it may be lost forever if

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the president had a warning for voters today about some of the vile, nasty, and downright inaccurate ads that mitt romney's campaign is running. >> over these next two months, over these next 63 days, you will see more ads, more negative ads, more insults and

distractions and bologna. >> yes, bologna. mitt romney has been serving a full blt of the stuff, big lies toasted, on welfare, medicare and defense cuts. claims that are refuted as often as they are repeated. joining us now from charlotte, site of the democratic convention, eugene robinson and dana millback, both esteemed columnists for "the washington pos post". one properly atired in a jacket, the other slightly more casual. we accept both. >> we didn't think you'd notice. >> we notice everything, gene. republicans have hit the president on welfare, medicare and defense cuts, but given the ryan budget which basically slashes huge holes in the safety net, plan for medicare vouchers and republican intransigents which, of course, we know leads to the defense cuts coming in january, are these attacks more damaging for republicans themselves than the president? >> well, this much we know already, martin, whatever they

are hitting the president with, it's not working because of those polls you cited. it's extraordinary to come out of a week of attacks like that and get nothing to show for it. >> maybe that's because the public realized they themselves are critiquing what they themselves would do. >> every once in a while the public actually gets to think it over and in the end they tend to get it right. that appears to be what has happened in this circumstance. look, there's been a lot of attention to what has been said of what's accurate and what's not. i think the message that came out of tampa last week, these guys really don't like barack obama but it was for a whole diffusion set of reasons and -- defuse set of reasons and many were contradictory and they were making the point. they left the democrats here in charlotte with the ability to make a more cohesive message this week. >> eugene, you've written in your column among the worst lies romney and ryan tell is the one about the work requirement for welfare. why, eugene, have you deemed

that to be any worse than any other -- all the other falsehoods they tell? >> well, that is the point. first of all, it is absolutely not true. it is absolutely not true that he weakened the work requirement. second, because it's racially charged. that is -- that's the intent of the ad. it is true that most people on welfare in this country are white, not black, but it is also true that in the sort of popular imagination, particularly over a lot of contives or white conservatives, welfare means black and the message of the ad is that, you know, he's giving free stuff to black people at your expense. that's why i considered that the most vile of the lies. >> gene, isn't romney being consistent? you'll remember after he spoke to the naacp he went to montana

and he talked about if you want to stick with the president who gives you free stuff, then stick with obama. i mean, that's his position. >> right. and it has been a kind of constant republican, i guess you would have to call it a strategy, although it's not much of a strategy or much of a tactic, but to present obama as other, as not like -- not like you. he's different. he's exotic. it takes many forms. he's exotic, grew up outside of the united states and yes, by the way, he is black. but this is -- this goes beyond that, because it really is -- i just think there's an edge to this one that we haven't seen. >> dana, you were just saying, that given all the attacks during the convention, the republican convention next week, it's not been of any great benefit to mitt romney. today we learn that the romney and ryan campaign are running

robo calls and guess what's in the robo call, the president wants to raid medicare for $716 million and he's going to tax wheelchairs and pacemakers. i mean, if it failed during their convention, why do they keep doing this? >> and i expect next they'll come back again with that jamesville gm plant which has been discredited and that whole line about the simpson-bowles that paul ryan trotted out last week. so, you know, that doesn't seem to be working. you know, when you take something like the jamesville case that's flat wrong, that's one thing. gene does make an important case that welfare argument is more pernicious because it seems designed to divide people and if the romney campaign wants to put their -- shrug and say we didn't mean this to be racially charged, why did the guy they had come out the next day to make this case was newt gingrich, the one who first o accused obama of being the food stamp president. >> absolutely. gene, to your point, how do you

expect president bill clinton to handle the romney/ryan welfare charges tomorrow night? >> easily. i mean, he will -- and gracefully like the political performer he is. i expect he'll give a speech and he will kind of swat this away with the back of his hand and then proceed to make his case for president obama's re-election. >> eugene robinson and dana milbank, thank you, gentlemen. >> next, clash of the titans, we match joe biden up against paul ryan. and it could get ugly. stay with us. >> what you didn't hear him talk about was his position to vote to let detroit go bankrupt. you didn't hear him repeat that if we stepped in and i, quote, general motors would be the living dead. you didn't hear limb say that last week. folks, you can't say you're going to create jobs in the

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has oats that can help lower cholesterol? and it tastes good? sure does! wow. it's the honey, it makes it taste so... well, would you look at the time... what's the rush? be happy. be healthy. an update on the president's travels today. moments ago joe biden touched down in charlotte, north carolina. he was sporting his trademark aviator shades as he got off air force 2 with his wife jill. on thursday the vice president delivers his speech to the democratic national convention and if his recent remarks are any indication that speech should give us a view of smoking joe at his rhetorical best. >> much of what they did tell you wasn't on the level at that convention. these guys are bush on steroids. it would have been voted on, but he voted no.

we are for medicare. they are for voucher care. he would not let it go to the floor. he walked away. >> now it's a good thing the vice president is so fired up and ready to go, because with paul ryan on the opposing ticket, he certainly has his work cut out. each new day brings a fresh revelation about the remarkable mr. ryan and his many talents. yes, he can catch fish with his bare hands, but that's not all. mr. ryan is also said to be a budget wonk of scrupulous honesty and marathon runner of record-breaking speed, capable of leaping tall buildings in a weiner mobile, but this is really impressive because paul ryan isn't just a superhero, he's a superhero who wealds a bow and arrow. that's him in his capitol hill office taking aim at medicare no doubt. and in the new issue of deer and deer hunting, he also talks about his love of targeting

animals. half the fun, he says, is lying in wait, strategizing ways to take down the dominant buck. unfortunately, mr. ryan says he won't have much time for that kind of fun in the coming weeks. but have no fear, mr. ryan is a resourceful fellow. indeed, he has a talent for almost everything. except honesty. stay with us. the day's top lines are coming up. at purina one, we believe small things can make a big difference. like how a little oil from here can be such a big thing in an old friend's life. we discovered that by blending enhanced botanical oils into our food, we can help brighten an old dog's mind so he's up to his old tricks. it's just one way purina one is making the world a better place... one pet at a time. discover vibrant maturity and more

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>> i think i got a "b" in econ 101. >> when we had the lead we let people down. >> you can't cut taxes in the way you say and raise as much money by going after loopholes. >> bologna. >> would you concede while many of the things you said were effective, some were not accurate. >> not at all. >> bologna. >> if our government is there to support you this plant will be there for another hundred years. >> seemed like you were trying to link the president's promise with the closing of that plant? >> bologna. >> he created a new bipartisan debt commission. >> you were one of seven members of that panel. didn't you owe it to the people in that room to say that as well? >> if you read the next paragraph. >> bologna. >> shouldn't he have talked about afghanistan in his speech. >> remember the day before, mitt romney went to the american legion and gave a lengthy speech on the topic. >> bologna. >> do you agree with mitt romney's prescription that russia is the most dangerous threat to the united states? >> if you live in the 20th century, you might believe that. >> when you're making the white

russian properly first move is simply virginizing the glass with just a touch of milk. >> just like your opinion. >> there's a little gathering going over over in charlotte. heard about this? >> whatever i say here today, it's going to be a distant second to the speech you will hear tonight from the star of the obama family, michele obama. i'm going to be watching it with our girls and i am going to try not to let them see their daddy cry. when michele starts talking, i start getting all misty. >> let's get right to our panel now, we're joined by msnbc contributor joy reid and the author goldie taylor joining us from charlotte and my colleague and co-host of "the cycle" with us in new york and on msnbc, crystal ball. thank you all of you. >> thanks. >> joy, a big night tonight for the first lady. two-thirds of americans have a very favorable view of her. isn't the real trick here that the less political she sounds,

the more politically effective she is? >> yeah. absolutely. i think michele obama because she's so popular, transcends a lot of the partisanship we've heard she has the opportunity, doesn't need to humanize barack obama or make him likable, she understands that he's already winning that race, but as she said on a conference call with reporters today, her job is to remind people fundamentally who barack obama is, about his values, his character and remind people of the things that they liked about him in 2008, and that people continue to like about him according to polls. so she's not humanizing him, she's reinforcing what she sees as his best attributes. >> goldie, ann romney took the stage in tampa last week with two main goals, win over women voters and humanize her husband, one difficult, the other near impossible. all the first lady needs to do, i guess, is remind us her husband fought for equal pay, appointed women to the highest positions in the land and

believes that women should make their own decisions about their own health choices. so i have to assume that the first lady's task is immeasurably easier than ann romney's was? >> it will be easier for michele obama to make this case tonight. she's going to walk the american people back through what her husband has accomplished over these last three to four years and she's going to walk them back through, albeit in a passionate way, who barack obama is and how he came to be, how his american story unfolded in this country and no one tells that story better than michele obama. and this is going to -- then she's going to point ahead to the future and ask women specifically are you going to be better off four years from now if mitt romney and paul ryan take hold of this white house. the answer from this crowd tonight, i'm going to suspect, will be a resounding no. and so if there is a war on women, paul ryan, mitt romney, they are standing in the fox

hole and sadly, ann romney's with them. >> indeed. crystal, we have a been listening to a lot from mrs. romney since the last week. we've heard a lot of things she said. let's take a quick listen. >> and i'm hearing from so many women that may not have considered voting for a republican before, that said it's time for the grownup to come, the man that's going to have -- that's going to take this very seriously. >> a remarkable statement. she's getting into the weeds there of the political fight, but a grownup? >> it's a very dangerous place to be, because people like ann romney, they love michele obama, but part of the reason that people like public figures like ann and michele, is that they stay out of politics. they're not seen as partisan or polarizing figures. when you make comments like that insinuating the president is a child and we need to bring a grownup into the room that's a very dangerous place for ann romney to go. and frankly, it's something that

michele obama i think will be very weary of tonight as well. i think she'll be forceful, defending the president, talking about his policies, his values, but i don't think -- you'll never hear her mention mitt romney's name. there won't be a direct contrast made there. it's just not the place for her to be. >> joy, it's time for a grownup, says mrs. romney? >> yeah. i think in a lot of ways that statement is very similar to the mistake that i believe cindy mccain made back in 2008, seeming to be just another part of the political fray. and americans have shown, you know, polls show americans are tired of the nastiness and kind of harping between the candidates and again, when you have the first black president your might not want to do anything that sort of seems to infan talize him because all that's going to do is remind people of the overall atmospheric problem the republican party has which is this impression that they are trying to divide white voters from everyone else in a way that den grates everyone elsep that was a dangerous statement for

her to make, stay out of the politics, keep trying to humanize mitt romney. >> were you not persuaded by ann romney when she performed that remarkable moment when she said, i love you ladies, women? were you not persuaded? >> i was absolutely not persuaded. i found her speech, albeit for some people they thought it was heartfelt and moving. i thought it was contrived. i think that, you know, in her inability, it seems, to connect with the women of this country and the everyday challenges and struggles that they face, you know, it's a tough thing for ann romney. i really applaud her for telling her story and being forthwith with it but it's the first time we've heard some of this stuff. the timing is suspect. i want to wait and hear michele obama's speech tonight and then we'll have something very real to compare it to. >> crystal, on the point about the first lady, you were saying earlier she has been very sirc comspec in the things she said

publicly, but this is a harvard trained lawyer. this is no weak need video. >> certainly not. >> do you think that the campaign ought to be using her a little more? >> i think michele obama dictates how and when she's used by the campaign. she's made that clear from the beginning. she will be of service when she wants to be of service. she is a tremendous asset and you see any time the president brings her up on the campaign trail, the crowd goes wild because people love this first lady and one of the things you'll get out of this convention that's a little bit, you know, hard to quantify, i think americans love the president but they also love having that first family in the white house. they love seeing the image of them, the role model parents, the way that they conduct themselves with their children. we haven't seen sasha and malia much lately. that's going to be another thing that's tremendously exciting to people, seeing the family together. >> crystal ball, goldie taylor and joy reed, thank you all. coming up on "hardball," more on paul ryan's tall tales and the president's push to unite this country. chris mathews is live from

charlotte with a powerful lineup of guests just ahead at 5:00. next, why you are better off than you were four years ago and why deep down, mitt romney knows it. stay with us. >> if we saw a cascade of bank failures one after the other after the other, that the entire free economy would grind to a halt, then this country and probably various places around the world, we were on a precipes which, you know, now we can sit back and say oh it wasn't so scary, frankly wit you a scary time for -- it was a scary time for a lot of people. .ha

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ronald reagan famously used the question to defeat jimmy carter are you better off than you were four years ago. devoid of any fresh ideas the

romney/ryan ticket has resurrected the question hoping voters won't check the facts. today in virginia, president obama did just that. >> i've cut taxes by a total of about $3600 for the typical family. governor romney wants to end the tax credit we created, that is saving families up to $10,000 over four years in tuition costs. i care about the seniors who are seeing lower prescription drug costs. i care about folks with preexisting conditions, who can't be denied care now. >> karen burnstein an msnbc contributor and former economic policy adviser to vice president joe biden. >> ari melder is a contribute for the nation. good afternoon. jared, if i mitt begin with you, i put it today straight, are americans better off than they were four years ago? >> absolutely. and you know, you just heard the president reviewing some of the policy measures that help particularly middle class and retired persons who depend on

medicare ways they're better off. let me talk about the economics. i was there, martin, i was there in 2009, when the president took office. i remember that the economy was absolutely cratering, a 9% gdp loss in the fourth quarter of 2008. okay. that's four years ago. the economy has been expanding since the second half of 2009. i was there when we lost 2 million jobs in the first quarter of 2009. we've been adding jobs now for 29 months. i was there when the housing market wasn't carving out a bottom the way it is now, but taking a new leg down month after month with more and more foreclosures, when the auto companies were looking at certain lick questionedation if they followed a governor writing op-eds saying let them go bankrupt. i saw this happen. anyone who thinks this economy looks like that economy is deeply out of touch. >> okay. first person testimony there from jared. ari, as we take a look at the

drop in unemployment since 2009, is it real possible that mitt romney believes americans would like to go back to the way things were when george w. bush left office? >> that's the question, right? there is sort of a big debate here about whether you can just tap into the economic frustration that exists which is very real or whether you can get in and have a conversation about what paul ryan calls the hard truths and that is what does deregulation and what do millionaire tax cuts do? it's not a complicated equation because if you're not a millionaire you don't do very well against mitt romney's plan as vaguely outlined or under paul ryan's projections which balance the budget by basically taking some of the programs for poorest americans like medicaid and eviscerating them or converting them to block grants. i think what you're going to see -- >> okay. but is this an effective campaign slogan? is it an effective campaign slogan by the republicans? >> well, i think it's a better

question than other questions and it does frame this as something that the president or tonight that michele obama have to answer. i do think -- no, i don't think it's super effective, because the answer is what jared outlined, plus what jared didn't even get to, which is some of the greatest accomplishments of any first term president in the past several decades passing a recovery act, having a jobs act, majority of support, but being filibustered, health care come through which is not always popular in every part of the country, but again a concrete and very understandable i think achievement. so you've got a lot of things that people are going to point to. i think that goes -- i'll end here. that's what michele obama has to do tonight. when she addresses the delegates at the last convention her approval was about 43%. it was a tough slog. tonight, she comes to a nation that has embraced her, her approval rating 63%, higher than the president or anyone in the cabinet. you're going to hear her talk about those achievements. >> jared, i want to remind you

of what mitt romney said about the auto bailout in 2009. take a listen. >> let the management and the board and if you will to a certain degree shareholders and secured creditors have the ability to guide the process rather than having the government do that. and i noted also yesterday, for those that are not aware of it, that in my view government owning and managing general motors is the wrong -- wrong way for this company to grow and succeed again. >> okay. jared, so in romney's view, general motors is not better off today than it was four years ago? >> right. i mean -- >> i don't understand what the guy is talking about, jared. >> it's impossible to understand. it's this kind of word salad that just doesn't really make sense. i mean, at the time, i was on the auto's task force. at the time, we were actively calling investors trying to figure out, is there someone who would come to the aid of these

two auto firms, general motors and chrysler, and buy them out of bankruptcy and the answer was absolutely not. we were in the midst of the deepest credit crunch since the grade depression. >> to drive home that point, steve rattner who was with you. >> correct. >> wrote and detailed that. he said they were begging investors and nobody stood up. zero. nobody. >> steve rattner is a guy who is deeply ensconced in financial markets. if he tells you there was no credit there then i believe him. what we were talking about with was certain lick questionedation and let's explain what that word means. that word means you start to melt down the plants. okay. we simply would not have the auto industry we have today, the million jobs when you include direct jobs and those of the suppliers all the way down the line. and these are critical in states like ohio and pennsylvania and north carolina, that's where these supply chains go. let me just say, one quick thing. what i hear mitt romney saying is, four years ago there was a

fire, a wildfire, that was very much a function of a set of policies as ari articulated that he and his folks stand for and now they basically are saying remember that, isn't that where you want to go back? i don't think it will work. because i think people's memory of what happened is actually good enough to preclude that. >> jared and ari, thank you, gentlemen, so much. >> thank you. >> as we go to break, another live look inside the convention hall in charlotte. as the delegates continue to stream in with just over ten minutes until the gavel sounds and the convention officially begins. stay with us. ♪ constipated? yeah. mm. some laxatives like dulcolax can cause cramps. but phillips' caplets don't. they have magnesium. for effective relief of occasional constipation. thanks. [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life.

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we are now just five minutes

from the opening of the democratic convention in charlotte. the party platform calls for insourcing and offering tax breaks to companies investing here. so america can outbuild the rest of the world. and it slams mitt romney, calling him, quote, a pan whose firm invested in companies that were pioneers of outsourcing, and whose plans would actually encourage outsourcing by eliminating all taxes on the foreign profits of u.s. companies. congresswoman terry saul is a democrat from alabama who happened to attend law school with the president and undergraduate -- and was an undergraduate with the first lady, and the first lady will be speaking tonight. good afternoon, ma'am. >> good afternoon, martin. >> as a friend of the president's, can we assume, unlike mitt romney, he actually agrees with his party's platform, especially on this issue of outsourcing american jobs? >> absolutely. i think we can find bipartisan support on the democratic platform on insourcing, finding tax incentives to make sure

companies stay here an recruiting companies that come back to america. >> okay. i want to read part of the republican platsz form -- platform regarding voter i.d. i'm going to quote, we support state laws that require proof of citizenship at the time of voter registration to protect our electoral system against a significant and growing form of voter fraud. how strongly will democrats address this issue in charlotte and you aware of growing evidence of voter fraud? >> listen, i think that uniformly these voter i.d. laws across this country have been put in place to suppress the vote, to the to actually protect the vote. i think that fraud, when it occurs, is an aberration, it is not the norm and places like alabama that i represent, i grew up in selma, alabama where people died and fought and marched for the right to vote. we should be encouraging people's right to vote not suppressing it. >> when republicans say to individuals like you that you're not being a responsible member

of the house because you should be protecting voting and suppressing any fraudulent and misuse of the vote, your response is? >> my response is that i am protecting the vote, by making sure and ensuring that all americans have a right to their -- to exercise their right to vote. i think that's what we as democrats are doing. i think what they're doing is being obstructionists. my dad is a disabled senior and i know that we will find a way to get him a voter i.d. but i think about all those seniors and all those disabled that may not be able to get a voter i.d. he votes with a ballot issued -- validly issued social security card and that should be enough. >> thank you for mentioning him and i hope he's well. i wanted to ask you, a little if i may, about your personal relationship with the first lady and president. you knew both of them before they knew each other, that is right? >> that's right. i had the pleasure of going to college with michele where she was my big sister. there weren't that many minority

students at princeton. she was assigned me. i grew up in selma, alabama, had never been to an ivy league school. didn't know na what to do. she was awesome. i expect her to really make the case for barack obama, not only as our commander in chief tonight, but as a husband and a father. i think that she will humanize him and make sure that all of us know all the great accomplishments that her husband has done. >> given you knew her so long ago, has she changed radically as a woman, as an individual, or do you still detect the same michele that you yourself knew at princeton? >> she is the same michele robinson i knew back at princeton. >> of course, forgive me, michele robinson. >> she was very nurturing, always a woman willing to give her advice. told me to study hard but study smart. that was great advice. i followed in the footsteps on to law school where i met her future husband. >> and judging by the color of what you're wearing, is it true to say you're more committed to

your undergraduate university than your law school some. >> absolutely. i think that it's a pleasure to have and watch both michelle, the first lady, and the president grow into their roles. i think that the president has -- >> i'm afraid -- congressman terri sewell, we have to leave but thank you for your contribution. >> thank you so much. >> we'll be right back. ur cellse throughout our entire lives. ♪ one a day men's 50+ is a complete multi-vitamin designed for men's health concerns as we age. ♪ it has more of seven antioxidants to support cell health. that's one a day men's 50+ healthy advantage. when the doctor told me that i could smoke for the first week... i'm like...yeah, ok... little did i know that one week later i wasn't smoking.

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